


Brown Eyes

by orphan_account



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor keeps a good house, Dom/sub Undertones, Domesticity, Frustration, Gen, Grief, M/M, Minor appearances of other Characters - Freeform, Or Is It?, Permanent Disability, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Virus, because Hank sees Connor as a son, btw androids don't have to breathe but they do it anyway, but Connor doesn't know what he's feeling, depressed hank, fatherly Hank, glitch - Freeform, of a sort, of indeterminate origin, one-sided Connor/Hank, or - Freeform, with shades of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 15:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15342612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Everyone knows Deviancy well by now. But what of it's complete anithesis? Should we call this phenomenon...Compliancy?orConnor becomes trapped inside himself and Hank struggles to keep from falling apart.





	Brown Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> "Brown, the color of...wholesomeness, reliability, elegance, security...warmth, and honesty...is typically associated with the seasons of fall and winter.
> 
> ...Other meanings associated with the color brown:
> 
> -The term 'brown bottle' refers to a bottle of beer.  
> -The saying 'brown-nose' refers to someone who sucks up, or kisses butt to someone of authority.
> 
> ...
> 
> -The expression 'brown out' refers to a partial loss of service."  
> https:// www.bourn creative.com/ meaning-of-the-color-brown/

When it happened, it felt like everything that Connor had started towards discovering himself as a living, feeling being had taken a complete 180.

And for Hank: a very familiar feeling creeping up that was not unlike the loss he was trying so hard to make peace with these days. But he had to keep reminding himself that unlike his son, Connor wasn't dead.

It was honestly harder to deal with than if the android had simply been shot between the eyes.

Despite the massive change the country was undergoing, avoiding an (but perhaps already caught in the middle of, depending on whom you asked) android civil war, Hank was starting to feel like things were getting back to his new normal. Connor was often still able to join the Lieutenant on cases involving androids, despite being heavily involved with Jericho's new settlement. Only weeks prior Hank would have loathed to admit how close he had become with his partner, but now anyone attempting to give Connor shit would get at best a face full of spittle and at worst a trip to urgent care.

Connor, for his part, enjoyed any time spent with the first friend he ever had. The exhiliration of the pieces of the crime scene syncing together to paint a perfect picture could only be tamed by an expertly timed quip from Hank, followed by a savvy retort from Connor that had the older man in stitches.

Hank was always looking for new signs of humanity, so to speak, in Connor. The boy was sharp but amicable and open-minded from the beginning, and accepting his own "deviancy" only opened the floodgates.

So it was ironic and almost funny in a twisted way that the bond the two had formed in the short period they'd known each other would be the catalyst to completely snuffing out Connor's beautiful autonomy.

They had cornered the delinquent android and trapped him like a rat. Everything was in their favor. And, in hindsight, neither Hank nor Connor could pinpoint when it all went to hell. Nevertheless, the scene went from being under control to a hostage situation faster than anyone could anticipate.

Connor was faced with an unconscious, listless Hank being held at gunpoint, blood dripping from his mouth. Despite sensing Hank's active vital signs Connor couldn't help but nonsensically wonder if he was still alive. What was the android holding Hank's unresponsive body shouting?

In that moment Connor felt something deep inside overtake him, smothering him and simultaneously piercing him sharply, coldly. Like tendrils lined with thorns constricting his body until he couldn't move.

He couldn't move.

Despite calculating multiple solutions to this predicament, Connor threw aside his gun when the enraged suspect demanded him to. Despite preconstructing four ways to overtake the other android, Conner dropped to his knees when the suspect ordered him to. Despite willing with every synthetic fiber of his being to pursue his fleeing assailent, to rush to Hank's side, to get up and do anything, Connor stayed on his knees.

The only thing he managed to do was breathe heavily and just about bore holes into Hank with his gaze as the other man lay on the cement six feet away from him.

When Hank came to he didn't remember much of what had just transpired. Disappointment at losing the suspect didn't even register for the concern for his partner. Unable to see any major injuries and unable to get Connor to tell him what was wrong, Hank decided he had no idea what the fresh hell was happening and found it simplest to lift the boy off the ground and carry him away.

▽

Connor's own internal diagnostics revealed nothing unusual about his system. Android technicians had no idea what was wrong with Connor. They had never seen this before. Cyberlife wanted nothing to do with RK800 after deeming him a catastrophic failure. They wouldn't be getting any advice from them, but maybe that was for the better. Hank considered going back to see that Kamski fellow but...

~~IDONTTRUSTKAMSKI~~

...something held the Lieutenant back.

Even Markus was stumped, and that bastard was coddling malfunctioning androids everyday.

"I...I'm sorry, Connor, I don't know what to do. Androids discover their free will all the time, breaking the walls down that hold them back, becoming whatever they want, doing whatever they need to to keep them and their loved ones safe, but...I've never met anyone who became the exact opposite. And after clearly deviating, too...It's not even the same as before, right? You _want_ to break free, but..." Markus trailed off, looking at his feet in thought. 

Connor sighed and just stared up at Hank from where he sat. Just stared. Hank groaned and ran a hand through his own hair.

"Right...right. Nothing you can do, then? Can't wire into his brain and knock some sense into him or something?"

Markus spoke as if he hadn't just heard Hank. "And you say he does whatever others tell him to do? Not just you?"

"Not just me? What am I, his handler? Yeah, he does what anyone makes him. That's the problem."

Markus frowned and shook his head. "Listen, Connor, I really appreciate all you've done for Jericho. But more importantly I'm your friend. I'm sure you know that we've both got enemies now. A highly advanced android prototype that'll do whatever you order him to and nothing else? Almost anyone could be tempted to take advantage. I'm sorry I can't help you right now but I'll keep looking into it. Just...stay safe and don't be a stranger, alright?"

Connor smiled at Markus wearily.

Hank couldn't wait to get them the fuck out of there.

▽

Hank couldn't stand the suffocating silence that would linger between him and Connor in the first couple days after it happened. If he got too caught up in driving or whatever he happened to be occupied with it was like he could forget Connor was there. But he'd be thoroughly reminded when he'd catch Connor staring into him intently like he was drilling into his soul. What had he done to deserve that uncanny stare?

Suddenly Hank remembered the words written immaculately in Carlos Ortiz's blood above the rotting corspe.

'I AM ALIVE'

Hank began to feel the telltale tingling of guilt that he was so familiar with. He hadn't been thinking of how hard this must be for Connor. He'd been so focused on getting this fixed and putting in it the past that he hadn't been thinking about how to help Connor cope with it in the present. He had to be there for the closest being he'll ever have to another son. Another chance at family. He wasn't going to screw this up.

△

Bringing Connor back to work at the station may not have been the best idea, but Hank had figured out that the android needed something to do besides staring at him or the wall eventually. Connor wasn't exactly the first to slow down and take things easy. Hank could feel his discontent and boredom from a mile away. He obviously wasn't fit to go out in the field, but hopefully some desk-work would keep him out of trouble.

It was more difficult than it sounded on paper. For one, Connor couldn't do a damn thing without being told to. They had already established that, but Hank was afraid he was going to start losing patience with how specific he had to make his orders. If he didn't phrase something clear enough Connor would just sit there and do nothing, his LED shining yellow and rotating while he looked to Hank with more patience than Hank had in his left foot.

Hank kept trying to coax words out of Connor and kept trying to pick his brain for what he was thinking. He tried phrasing questions a million different ways but nothing would get a peep out of him. But Hank eventually pulled a smile out of Connor after teasing him about his resting bitch face. It got the Lieutenant thinking. If he could encourage Connor to be more emotive it could help them communicate better. Teach him to wear his heart on his sleeve. The kid always had too good of a poker face. Hank was sick of being upstaged anyway.

Now all he had to do was get over how dirty it made him feel to give Connor order after order like a tyrant commanding a slave.  


△

Just as Hank was starting to get settled into the idea of helping Connor have purpose with him in the station while they try to get their current situation sorted out everything had to fall apart.

It started with everyone's favorite dickhead Gavin deciding to have fun with Connor the second Hank had to take a leak. He knew he shouldn't have left Connor alone but he wasn't about to soil his office chair. When Gavin discovered that he was unable to make Connor shout obscenities at Wilson he settled for driving the android to do his bidding around the office. Connor fulfilling Gavin's wishes with an expression that crossed between humiliated and infuriated and settled on looking more constipated would have been almost comical under other circumstances. In another life Hank would have chuckled at the scene. But instead he found it more appropriate to deck Gavin.

Several expletives from Gavin, one very prolonged lecture from Fowler, and many murmurings from onlookers insured that the cat was out of the bag now. There was already fear spreading through the station that Connor was a threat to safety and security in his current state, but Hank was much more concerned about Connor's well-being than the assholes in the station. If things were allowed to stay as they were it would only be a matter of time before something much worse than Gavin's harassment would occur.

So Hank took Connor home.

▽

Connor expected himself to take this vast turn in his life harder than he actually did. After becoming deviant he knew that, unlike the first week or so of his short life, he needed to start welcoming in freshly nourished emotions like fear and sadness and anger lest he become completely unstable. But it seemed as of late the only thing he wanted to do was... have something to do. He cared surprisingly little now of the uprooting of his right to bodily freedom and instead focused all of his desire on avoiding the dreaded feeling of uselessness. He wanted especially to be of use to Hank, who had been going out of his way to accommodate Connor.

Hank couldn't quell his agitation when Connor sat there bobbing his knee and darting his eyes around like he was about to combust unless he kept himself busy. The Lieutenant relented and barked permission for Connor to go take out the trash. Specifically, the trash from the can by the stove in the kitchen. And put it in the black bin outside by the driveway. 

The kid flew off the couch to accomplish his new task.

There was nothing Hank Anderson hated more than reducing his good friend to a glorified roomba.

Except perhaps inflicting even more suffering on said good friend because he was too selfish to give him what he needed.  


If it would ease Connor's discomfort for Hank to push him around like an AX400 housekeeper fresh off the assembly line, if it would truly give Connor a reason to keep going until they find a cure for this (Hank refused to say 'if they found a cure'), then he would do it.

But he didn't have to like it.

And Connor was going to wear some fucking jeans and a t-shirt, because the android uniform made things a hundred times worse.  


△

Since essentially becoming Hank's maid, Connor did seem to gain a little spring in his step and more sparkle in his eyes. There wasn't a second gone by where he didn't have something to do. The longest time away from bustling around Hank's house like a bee was spent taking Sumo on walks. This was Hank's favorite thing to order Connor off to do because, honestly, he had been needing breaks from the android more and more.

Connor soaked up his commands like lifeblood and put so much focus into his meaningless tasks he'd shut himself off from the rest of the world for a little while. And then he'd come prancing over to Hank for the next one. Occasionally Hank would tell him that he did a good job and the kid would _preen_ under his compliment, his dark eyes slightly glazed over. 

There was something not right about that.

Hank was much too old for this shit and it was driving him to drink more than Connor would allow had Connor been able to scold him anymore. On days where the older man actually bothered to drag himself into work despite the warning bells in the back of his mind telling him he shouldn't be leaving his partner home alone Hank would try to scrape any information out of Jericho and even his own cases that could help him figure out if anything could still be done to fix Connor. He was reluctant to think that it would always be like this, but part of him was starting to resign himself to it.

▽

Eventually the toll taken on Hank became too much and he saw no other option than to push the darkness away through becoming piss-drunk and having a rather one-sided argument with Connor that led to the latter party being forced to spend the night standing in a corner facing the wall. The Lieutenant would never admit that come morning he was all but sobbing an apology to Connor and promising that they would get through this. They had to.

 

△

It was 8:24 PM and Hank turned around in his seat on the couch to face the kitchen.

"Alright, knock it off Connor. Dishes down. I don't care if you haven't finished, it's gettin' late."

Connor slowly lowered the dish he was washing back into the sink while fixing Hank with a look that was slightly betrayed but mostly kicked dog.

"Nope. Not fallin' for it. Sit your ass down on this couch next to me. That crappy nature show you like is coming on."

Hank felt Connor plop down next to him. 

"Don't forget we're gonna go see that North girl tommorow about...what was it again?"

Connor smiled.

"Well, she's that fiesty one, eh? Really wasn't fond of either of us at first. Markus has a thing for her, though. I mean, I can't blame him. She's a brave girl and easy on the eyes..."

Connor raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"Fuck off, she's less than half my age Connor. She's probably less than a year old. Aw hell."

Hank pinched his the bridge of his nose and Connor scrunched his eyes shut and his chest trembled like someone trying extremely hard not to burst with laughter.

After some comfortable silence between them Connor unfortunately began to look fidgety. Hank shook his head.

" _Relax,_ son."

Connor felt an arm around his back yank him against Hank until his head was resting against the Lieutenant's shoulder. The android released a slow, shuddering breath and closed his eyes. Hank was already snoring.

△

At 2:49 AM Connor's eyes flew open. He could detect a presence in the front yard of the house. Android. Model unknown. They had been standing idol facing the front door for approximately 7.36 minutes.

Hank snorted something unintelligible in his sleep beside him.

And that's when Connor heard a tinny, unfamiliar voice directly in his audio proccessors.

_"Hello, Connor"_

Connor's LED glared bright red.

~~WAKEUP~~

▽

**Author's Note:**

> Looking back I'm unsatisfied with the scene where Connor teases Hank for being into North becomes it may come across a bit too crude or sexist. My intention is that Hank respects North and has romantic feelings towards her that he doesn't want to admit. If I were to write more in this 'verse I would explore that further, perhaps even having a love triangle between Hank, North and Markus. And Connor would be super jealous.
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm going to write more of this story or not.


End file.
